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By James Boyle
Directories are human-maintained listings of businesses grouped into categories. Directory websites allow visitors to browse these listings, and provide a searching mechanism to help you find the business that you want. Most directories charge either a once off or ongoing fee to secure a listing, and give you some control over what information is displayed for your business.
This article aims to describe in detail some the major offerings in the Australian online directory market so that you can make an informed decision about what is worthwhile.
Yellow Pages Online
Probably the best-known Australian directory, Yellow Pages Online (run by Sensis) has recently had a major face-lift. Yellow Pages offers a number of online solutions which they call Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum listings. Bronze and Silver listings are used in conjunction with print advertising, and because they are always listed after Gold and Platinum in search results they are pretty much useless. If you want to be found in Yellow Pages Online you need to get a Gold or Platinum solution, which we describe in more detail here.
Platinum Solution
Platinum ads are small banner ads (138 x 95 pixels) that appear at the top of the search results for a particular category. Clicking on the banner will take you directly to the advertiser’s website and there are only three platinum positions available per category. Costs vary depending on the category but expect to pay around $2000 for a three month period to secure a Platinum position.
Gold Solution
The Gold solution is the most common and at the moment is the best value for money. With a Gold solution you get a 265 x 795 graphic associated with your entry, as well as contact details, opening hours, details about the products and services you offer and links to your email and website. You can also specify a quote line to appear in red under your business name in the directory listing.
One important thing to note is that advertisers in the Yellow Pages are strictly first in best dressed. The earlier you sign up with them the higher up you will be in the listings and there is no way to buy a higher position within the same solution. To move up the listings you have to wait for other businesses to drop out.
A Gold solution costs $330 to set up, with $118 per month ongoing fee. You can appear under multiple headings but each heading attracts the monthly fee. See if your consultant can offer you some discount if you are starting to spend that much with them.
adPoints
Those of you who have used Yellow Pages Online may have noticed the list of services, brands and offerings on the left hand side of directory listings. These allow you to further refine your search to locate a business that more directly fits your requirements. Yellow Pages refers to these criteria as adPoints, and as an advertiser you will appear under the adPoints that are relevant to you.
The way that adPoints determines which criteria you appear under is vague and Yellow Pages weren’t very forthcoming with details except to say that it is keyword based, and that the text that you provide to them (Products and Services as well as the text that appears on your ad) is used.
We found the best idea is to tell your Yellow Pages consultant which adPoints you wish to appear under. They will then ensure that what you have provided will categorise you under your desired adPoints
Target Media
Target Media allows you to appear in search results of all the suburbs that you service, rather than just the one that you are located in. By default a business located in Box Hill will appear in results for ‘Greater Melbourne’ and for ‘Box Hill’. If you want to appear in results for any other suburb then you must buy Target Media for that suburb.
Target Media is priced per postcode, and will cost you $2.20 per postcode per month. You can also buy all Melbourne suburbs for $148.50, which is a lot cheaper than paying for the postcodes individually.
Yahoo! Local Search
Yahoo!’s latest directory offering is Local Search. Launched in August 2004 it is built to compete directly with Sensis’ Yellow Pages. A company called Australian Local Search (ALS) manages the listings and provides results to Yahoo!. They offer both free and paid listings.
Free Listing
The free listing gives you your business name, your address, phone number and a map to your location. The deliberate omission of an email and website link makes the free listing not particularly useful.
Paid Listing
A paid listing will get you all that a free listing gives you plus an advertising line similar to Yellow Pages, a website link, an email link, a description of your services and your opening hours. Additionally you can decide what categories and keywords you want associated with your listing to help people to find you. A paid listing is usually $750 for 12 months, however as they are trying to encourage new customers, you should be able to obtain a better deal or at least get some extra time for free.
The directory operates in a similar way to Yellow Pages though it is more keyword based than category based. Similar to Yellow Pages, advertisers are first in best dressed, and due to the relative youth of the directory you can still get good positioning.
Registering can be done online for a free listing. A consultant will call you and will try and sell you the paid listing. If you agree to the paid listing you can sign up over the phone and give all the information to the consultant.
Serviced Area
Yahoo! Local Search also offers a service similar to Yellow Pages’ Target Media called Serviced Area. Launched in August 2005, it too allows you to buy postcodes to appear under. In contrast to Yellow Pages, Serviced Area results appear in a separate column in the results page. This means that there is more of a distinction between those businesses that are located in a suburb and those that just service it. In our opinion this presentation seems better for both the directory user and the advertiser.
Prices for Serviced Area are generally more than those for Yellow Pages but as this product is newer, you are more likely to get a better position (again, this is first in best dressed). You can buy postcodes individually for $2.20, or the whole of Victoria for $3,300 for a year. Don’t be afraid to ask for a package that encompasses just the postcodes you want.
More than just Yahoo!
The ALS listings that drive Yahoo! Local Search are also used by another search site – Phonebook.com.au. This means that your listing is automatically available by people searching on that site. Our consultant also mentioned that NineMSN would soon be including ALS listings in their search results. If this is the case then this getting in early with a paid listing could become very valuable in the not-too-distant future.
Yahoo! Directory
Yahoo has had a directory service almost since the dawn of the Internet. Different from the new Yahoo! Local Search directory, this directory contains a short description and a link for a vast number of websites organised by subject. It used to be the case that it was fairly vital to get a listing in the Yahoo! Directory. With the advent of their Local Search and the focus on their Pay Per Click arm, Overture, this seems to be dying a slow death. Even on the Yahoo! Australia home page you have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to see a link to this directory.
This hasn’t stopped them charging to have an entry in their directory. You can choose their Standard Inclusion, which is free but means that they will include you when they get time. The other option is to pay a once off fee of $495 for their ‘Yahoo! Express’ service. This will guarantee that they will consider your site for inclusion within 7 days. Yes, you read that right. All they guarantee is that they will consider your request. If for some reason you do not meet their criteria for inclusion in their directory your money is gone.
Our feeling is that this directory is on the way out – so spend your money on Yahoo! Local Search instead.
Open Directory Project (ODP)
While the directories we have mentioned so far charge significant amounts of money to appear in them, the Open Directory Project (also called DMOZ) is completely free to appear in.
The ODP is run by volunteers and boasts to be the largest human edited directory of the Web. You submit the address and a short description of your site online, and then wait for the editor of your category to review your submission and enter your site in the directory.
Because this is run by volunteers, the time it takes for your site to be included can be months, if it is included at all. It all depends on what category you submit yourself to and how many other sites are trying to submit their entries too. Once you are in, it is equally difficult to get anything changed so make sure you consider your site description properly before submitting. Ensuring it contains your keywords is always a good idea.
That said, the directory is free and all you really have to do is submit your site and wait. While not many people use the ODP for their searching, the results of ODP are said to be given some weight by Google, and anything that helps your Google ranking and is free is definitely worth doing. Just be patient.
About
the author
James Boyle http://www.elementalservices.com.au/
Elemental Services
July 2005
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